Monday, August 6, 2012

Crust Stone Oven Pizza and Pub

Not a fan of Quad-Cities style pizza, Richie was eager to try the new restaurant, Crust Stone Oven Pizza and their "European" style pizzas. Oh la la. On Bix Saturday, we pulled into the parking lot and weren't sure if they were open or not. As we walked in, we saw that it was only the 3rd Saturday they were open during lunch hours. Their normal business hours don't begin until 4 p.m. on all other days of the week.

We were offered either a table inside or on the patio, so we opted for the chilly air conditioned dining room. The interior is pretty swanky looking- black and white, dim lights, photography on the walls. Each wall was adorned with a couple of TVs turned to either ESPN, the Cubs game, or some snooze fest volleyball Olympic game. Sad choices, so I stared at the walls instead. And these randoms

The menu is small, but appealing. The appetizer and sandwich section offers fancified french fries and cheese curds, a chicken sandwich, a burger, and mac n cheese. The pizza offerings are your typical pepperoni, margherita, and sausage, plus a few interesting flavors- chorizo potato, three pigs, and chicken artichoke. View the menu here.

Being the good carnivore he is, Richie ordered the three pig pizza which is topped with pancetta, capacolla, and soppresatta a.k.a. a bunch of pork. Don't ask which meat is which. The pizza is baked in a stone oven with temps of up to 900 degrees. Need to get rid of a dead body? The pizzas cook in about 90 seconds. My mac n cheese held us up, but we still received our food very quickly, in about 10 minutes.

The macaroni had a nice crust on it, dotted with bacon. Mmm more pig. The inside was very hot and filled with melted gouda cheese, bacon, and peas. It was creamy, flavorful, and the peas made me feel like I made a healthy choice. (I didn't)

I shared my order with Scarlett, who also gave it a tiny thumbs up, though I think she prefers Easy Mac.

Richie devoured about half of his pizza. The crust is very thin and chewy, so it wasn't hard to do.

He actually thought it was a little underdone and could've used a few more seconds in the oven. He didn't eat the top crust, but I did, and I enjoyed the taste and texture had a bit of char flavor. He happily reported that the meats each had a bold, distinct flavor. However, they were a bit salty to his palate and decided he would try pepperoni next time. Nonetheless, he claimed that it was delicious and real pizza, "unlike that Quad-Cities style stuff." Whatever.

He also downed a mug of Steven's Point Root Beer. For 4 bucks you should get to keep the glass. He likened it to Barqs because it had a bitter bite to it.

We had no issues with our waitstaff, and I read about a cool thing they did, but a friend of mine who went on the restaurant's second day said his waitress was very rude and ignored his table to talk with her friends. He also said that management dismissed his complaints. If you aren't given good service, be sure to complain. Maybe they will listen or maybe they will continue to be douchey.